MIKE addresses chess meme stunt in the front row of his Italian show

MIKE has addressed the Italian fan who attempted to recreate a chess meme while in the front row at his concert in Italy.

During MIKE’s concert at the Circolo Magnolia in Milan on March 22, a fan decided to recreate a Tool meme which saw the phrase “TOOL mosh pits” emblazoned across a photo of men in suits playing chess.

In a now-deleted TikTok from the show, the young fan pulled out a small chessboard while in standing in the front row and initiated a short game of chess. The clip also had the phrase “MIKE Moshpit” overlayed on it in white text.

A tweet of the TikTok that was captioned “I hate this so much,” ended up going viral and led the kid to share an apology for his actions that were intended as a joke. “I’d like to clear up some things about what happened at MIKE’s concert in Milan, because it turns out there’s been a huge misunderstanding about my intentions. First and foremost, I owe an apology to the man himself, who had an astounding performance and had a fantastic way of keeping us engaged,” he wrote.

I hate this so much pic.twitter.com/Gf3XJA4v0I

— fuzzy… (@fuzzytincan) March 26, 2025

“It wasn’t my intention to offend or disrespect MIKE in any way, the act of playing chess during a MIKE concert was a reference to a meme that had gone viral on socials about a year ago, and I was sure MIKE would’ve recognised it. I paid for the ticket to the concert just so I could enjoy the show and genuinely have a great time, MIKE is one of my favourite artists so it would make no sense to just pull up to mock him.

He continued: “I’d like to make things as clear as possible: when I posted the video, the drawbacks it would have were far beyond my consideration. We come from completely different cultures, and being a 16 years-old guy from Italy makes it hard for me to truly understand what this could’ve meant to a lot of people.

“I feel sorry for all the fans that have felt offended. It was just a friendly joke in my eyes but it turned out to be perceived as a big derogatory attitude towards the artist and his culture. I take full accountability for this, I now recognize the negative aspect of the act, and I can say I’ve learned an important life lesson. I’ll ask you to be human and respect my privacy, Thank you.”

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MIKE shared his thoughts on the attempted meme and took to X/Twitter to share a series of tweets regarding the situation. “Yea fk dem lil Italian kids lmfaooo, I told them wassup after I finished performing stop worry but I wasn’t bout stop rapping cus they was bein nerds,” he wrote.

He continued: “Also I wasn’t gon discipline no 16 yr olds lmaoo that’s they parents job.” “But just to reiterate, that shit is not cool. Memes r funny and stuff /but something, at least one thing in yo life gotta be sacred so u kno when to stfu n see when somebody is bein fr.”

Yea fk dem lil Italian kids lmfaooo, I told them wassup after I finished performing stop worry but I wasn’t bout stop rapping cus they was bein nerds

— MIKE (@t6mikee) March 28, 2025

But just to reiterate, that shit is not cool. Memes r funny and stuff /but something, at least one thing in yo life gotta be sacred so u kno when to stfu n see when somebody is bein fr

— MIKE (@t6mikee) March 28, 2025

In a separate tweet, the rapper shared his appreciation for his dedicated fans and wrote: “I could never repay yall 4 how sum yal b standing on business behind me that shit mean the world 2 me always, tear worthy.”

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